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<p>Oh really?</p>
<p>*Job hunters’ stock may be rising on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Large and midsize financial-services institutions are hiring again, albeit modestly. Recruiters cite improving financial markets and increasing investor confidence as catalysts.*</p>
<p>[In</a> Finance, Recent Signs of Hiring - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511318124517281.html]In”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511318124517281.html)</p>
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<p>You’re right, it’s not as lucrative as it used to be - it’s now actually more lucrative. That’s right - more.</p>
<p>*Staff at Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm’s 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.</p>
<p>A lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at Goldman Sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm.</p>
<p>Staff in London were briefed last week on the banking and securities company’s prospects and told they could look forward to bumper bonuses if, as predicted, it completed its most profitable year ever. Figures next month detailing the firm’s second-quarter earnings are expected to show a further jump in profits. Warren Buffett, who bought $5bn of the company’s shares in January, has already made a $1bn gain on his investment.</p>
<p>Goldman is expected to be the biggest winner in the race for revenues that, in 2006, reached £186bn across the entire industry. While this figure is expected to fall to £160bn in 2009, it will be split among a smaller number of firms.</p>
<p>Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank are among the European firms expected to register bumper profits, along with US banks JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley following the near collapse and government rescue of major trading houses including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland.*</p>
<p>[Goldman</a> Sachs to make record bonus payout | Business | The Observer](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/21/goldman-sachs-bonus-payments]Goldman”>Goldman to make record bonus payout | Goldman Sachs | The Guardian)</p>
<p>Ironic indeed that recent and widespread criticism of Wall Street’s pay packages for their risk-inducing characteristics may actually contribute to transforming Wall Street into an even more lucrative profession. Many have pointed to the lucrative Wall Street bonus payment structure and culture for encouraging bankers to adopt inappropriately risky strategies that boost short-term bonuses at the expense of long-term stability of the firm and the overall financial system, and while some firms such as Goldman have responded by simply repaying TARP funds in order to escape government diktats to modify bonus structures, other banks have responded by reducing bonuses, but also increasing base pay. The net effect will be that while bankers will still make the same pay on average, that pay will be even less related to firm performance, whether short or long term.</p>